


no place for promises here.

by keytniss



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Enemies, Human Catra (She-Ra), Miraculous Ladybug AU, Unhappy Ending, anyway this is shitty, but it's MY shitty, chat noir!catra, i guess idk, i honestly dont know what im doing anymore, i mix mythologies! and it's a mess!, it's basically the actual show but with miraculous ladybug, ladybug!adora, ooc shadow weaver, ugh their power
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 00:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20330974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keytniss/pseuds/keytniss
Summary: “This isn't yours,” Ladybug would say, trying to unclench Chat’s fist so she could get to the ring. “Give it back.”Chat would cackle and then try to scratch her face with her claws.“This isn’t mine, princess? How come I’m wearing it then?”A Miraculous Ladybug AU for those who can't stop thinking about Catra using the Cat Miraculous.





	no place for promises here.

**Author's Note:**

> i just couldn't stop thinking about chat!catra and ladybug!adora. the title is a verse from one of my favorite songs, gun - chvrches, and i SERIOUSLY recommend you to give it a listen. it should be catradora's official song after season 3. idc.
> 
> enjoy!

Adora and Catra were inseparable.

They had known each other since they were kids, parentless kids who never quite adapted to the real world and its lack of magic, as if they had come from somewhere else. Kids who knew there was something strange around them, who got weird looks because of their peculiarities. So, they bonded: orphanage could be quite difficult when everyone considered you to be a freak, especially for Catra. The fact that Adora tried to protect her didn’t make life easier for either.

Because of how early they met, there was never a “first time” for anything: everything they did, they did together, such an early memory in their childhoods that they could barely remember. Adora was there when Catra could barely stand on her feet, picking her up and helping her walk to the next wall; Catra was there when Adora woke up in the middle of the night, having vivid nightmares that no adults could understand. Both were there when kid after kid left the orphanage by the age of ten, leaving them together... but alone.

Catra was twelve, growing taller and taller. Adora wasn’t much shorter— in fact, they were the same height. Adora knew what that meant. By that time, they had already lost any hope.

As their last friends left, promising to write letters and come visit them, knowing the girls were pretty much damned to stay in that place until they were old enough, Catra exploded.

“I can’t believe this,” she said as she kicked a trash can.

“What’s going on?” Adora asked, though she was trying to hold back her own tears crawling inside her throat.

Catra turned around. “Don’t you get it?” Her eyes, heterochromatic eyes, blue and gold focused back on Adora. “That was our last chance, Adora.” She clenched her fist. “No one will ever want us.”

Adora wasn’t naïve. She knew they were too old, had known it for a long time, but she would not give in. Giving in would mean Catra would have nowhere to run, and she couldn’t do that.

So she clenched her fist, too, trying to stop her insecurities from showing up in her weak voice.

“We don’t need people to want us.”

Catra scoffed.

“You know that’s not true.”

Adora nodded.

“I do. I do think that’s true.”

Catra’s knuckles were getting whiter and whiter. She furrowed her brows, standing right in front of Adora, and quickly shook her head.

“How can you say that?”

Adora gave one step ahead, closing the distance between them. There was nothing in her life that she could be sure of: she didn’t know where she came from, didn’t know why they had left her, and didn’t know what she would do after she left that place.

But she knew that, whenever she went, Catra would always be there. Catra was the only thing she ever had that was certain, a fixed star in the sky to guide her whenever she needed directions. They were inseparable, after all.

She lifted one arm, touching Catra’s cheek so lightly. Her blue and golden eyes opened even more as she listened to Adora’s next words.

“We have everything we need right here.”

Her words were supposed to be comforting, not necessarily honest, so it came as a surprise when she heard what she said and realized she was being completely sincere. They only needed each other.

Catra lifted her own hand, touching Adora’s, holding it on her cheek as she leaned on it.

“You won’t leave me, right?”

Adora smiled. No, she wouldn’t. She didn’t plan to.

She was Catra’s height, so she didn’t even need to stand on her tiptoes to reach her partner’s forehead.

There, she placed a kiss.

“Never.”

* * *

Shadow Weaver wasn’t very friendly— but she was, perhaps, the only reason the girls were able to have a relatively better life at the orphanage after everyone left. 

She had appeared in their lives very early, when both were just learning how to talk, and took care of some of the kids at the orphanage. In the beginning, when they were so starved for attention, she’d give them some special recognition for her deeds: a special note to Adora, congratulating her for her good grades and nice attitude; new shoes to Adora, who wanted to practice sports but didn’t have any; a recommendation letter to Adora so she could have better chances of getting a nice scholarship to go to a great high school... And, of course, the same thing for Catra, because Adora wouldn’t accept any of that if her friends couldn’t have the same. 

Then, as the years passed, she became their mentor, letting Catra express her anxieties and telling, instructing Adora exactly what she should do in order to get over them. She was their protector, telling the girls to avoid staying out in the streets at night; and she was also their guide, holding them to her high expectations, dictating which classes they could take and which they should not. Living in shadows, barely leaving the orphanage but making sure the girls never got hurt, it was clear there was a different interest, one that the girls couldn’t really see. 

Sometimes, it seemed like it was just pure love for the two of them. Most of the times, however, it seemed to be just a weird fascination for Adora, and she needed to treat Catra right if she wanted the former to like her back. 

Catra noticed, but she pretended to not care. As long as she had her best friend with her, everything would be fine. 

* * *

“Adora, come on, we’re gonna miss the bus,” Catra yelled. 

They were sixteen, so close to their freedom, yet so far still. Catra had grown up to be a rebel, her dark frizzy hair making her look as fierce as one could get. Adora was more contained, her fair hair always in a ponytail, but you could tell just by looking into her eyes that she was a rebel too. 

It had been some time since they went out together, both so busy with school, focused on becoming athletes, knowing it was their only chance to escape their reality and get into a good university. 

Adora smiled as she came to the main entrance, standing on one leg as she tied her shoelaces. 

“Gee, calm down. We still have twenty minutes.” 

It was a sunny day, and in many ways, everything felt different than usual. 

They were going to the movies together, which was a luxury. They usually had no money to spare, but Adora had once helped Shadow Weaver with her duties and got some money from that, and Catra would always keep coins whenever she found them, so soon they had enough to buy the tickets and a small popcorn. 

When Catra looked at Adora, who was wearing an old red dress, so different from her usual pants and white t-shirts, her heart skipped a beat. 

She looked like she was ready to go out with someone, and that someone was Catra. 

“What?” the blonde asked to her friend’s disconcerted expression. Her hair was still in a ponytail, but some of it was loose, framing her features. 

Catra covered her mouth with her hand. 

“Nothing.” 

It wasn’t nothing. She was just trying to cover the red coming to her cheeks. 

“Wait,” Adora approached her, “are you blushing?” 

She then put one of her arms around Catra’s shoulder, giving her a fond yet nasty smile. “That’s embarrassing.”

Catra quickly removed Adora’s hand from her shoulder, like they were dancing. Then, as if was something super natural and common between the both of them, she held it.

Adora blushed.

“Aw,” Catra chortled, holding Adora’s hand even tighter. “Look who’s blushing now.”

They walked out together, holding hands, trying to control their smiles as they watched the movie. They wanted to kiss each other, tell each other their true feelings, but no, they had time, they weren’t so sure, so they waited.

Adora planned to tell how she really felt the week after. Catra was already writing her declaration for the next day.

They didn’t know that would be their last day together.

* * *

Adora knew something was wrong. She had known it since she was a little girl, wondering why nothing seemed new to her, as if anything concerning supreme leader Hawk Moth and her country’s government triggered memories she didn’t know she had.

She was good at pretending, however. So good that, in the past few months, she had almost forgotten the uncomfortable feeling telling her she should run away with Catra.

So when she found a small decorated red box in the bathroom late that night, which only seemed to appear when Adora laid her eyes on it, she didn’t pay much attention to it. Sure someone must have had forgotten it there and soon would be back. Sure it was only a hallucination. There was no need for her to try anything.

But then, when she was washing her hands and approached the little box, telling herself it was more about her need to report the findings to Shadow Weaver so they could return it to the owner than about any curiosity she had, she saw a little note on the box. A note with her name in big, curvy handwriting. Handwriting she’d never seen before, but that still looked eerily magic and familiar.

_ Adora_.

“Catra, was this you?” She turned around, but no one was there. “Is there anyone here?”

So she opened it. Inside, there were black earrings.

_ These are so cute_, she thought to herself, and then decided to put them on.

As soon as she did, a purple holographic woman showed up right in front of her, tall and elegant.

“Mara!!!”

Adora almost fell back on the ground.

“What the heck are you?”

The woman moved around, almost levitating, looking inside the different cabins in the bathroom.

“Where is Mara?”

Adora was perplexed. The bright person seemed to be magic, and definitely didn’t belong to their world. It reminded her of something again, a deeply buried memory, but she couldn’t dig after it without hitting a white wall inside her mind. Just looking at it was giving her headaches.

“I don’t know who this Mara person is,” she said, touching her temples and getting back on her feet. “Who are you? _ What _ are you?”

“I’ve been away for longer than I thought.”

The woman finally stopped, glitching a little. She looked straight at Adora, who finally noticed the source of the hologram were the earrings. 

“I guess you’re taking her place, then. I’m Light Hope,” she sighed. “And you are the new Ladybug.”

Adora didn’t know what Light Hope meant, but she felt like she was supposed to. Ladybug was a legend, some old myth that no one believed anymore. A powerful hero who once became a villain, taking cities with her until she had to be destroyed.

Or at least that was what the government said. She didn't know. She couldn't be sure about anything she'd learned, not when they contradicted her memories.

She felt like following the creature would tell her more about Ladybug's true story.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. My name is _ Adora_.”

Light Hope approached the girl, raising her arms and quickly touching the earrings.

“And you’re the new Ladybug, too." She indicated the box where the earrings once where, asking Adora to hold it. "We need to go back to our world. Hawk Moth controls this place. There’s no time to explain.”

Adora touched one of the earrings with her right hand. They felt like they belonged there, pulsing with magic, waiting for a call. Light Hope, with its calm voice and magic aura, seemed like a strange combination of Adora’s dreams and her reality.

She thought of Catra. She thought of how she loved the orphanage, but how she could never call it home.

“Where do we need to go?”

“Bright Moon.”

Adora furrowed her brows.

“That’s where the enemy lives.”

Light Hope sighed.

“Adora, I need you to trust me. We need to get out of here as fast as we can. I know you know something’s wrong.”

Adora didn’t answer. Light Hope took that as a confirmation.

“Whenever you’re ready, just scream ‘spots on’ and you’ll transform into Ladybug.”

“And then what?”

“I’ll disappear but there will be a map inside the yo-yo. Use it.”

Her hand was still touching the earring. She bit her lip.

“Why should I do that?” She tried to relax a bit, arms hanging on both her sides. “What if this is a curse? I can’t be transformed into an insect.”

Light Hope almost grinned. Maybe that was the closest she could get to expressing a smile.

“You won’t. You can trust me. But we need to go, now.”

So Adora closed her eyes. She breathed deeply, chest moving up and down as she prepared herself.

"Will I be back soon?"

Light Hope didn't answer. She took that as a confirmation.

The thought of leaving Catra behind pained her, but she promised she'd return as soon as she could. What Light Hope said didn't make much sense, but the situation itself did.

She knew something in her life was wrong. But at that moment, nothing had ever felt so right.

“Ok. Spots on!”

* * *

Catra knew something was wrong. She knew she was lying to herself, but that didn’t bother her as long as she had Adora with her.

That afternoon, however, her pretenses were shattered.

“Adora has been adopted.”

Shadow Weaver had called Catra to her office right after lunch. The latter was still high on expectations because of how well the night before had gone.

She had a love letter on her right pocket, one she was planning to give to Adora during lunch, but she hadn’t seen her there.

“Adora has... what?”

“She has been adopted. A couple came in the middle of the night to get her. They’d been planning it for a long time and finally got her papers. She left.”

Catra shook her head, lips parting as she took a step back.

“She wouldn’t.”

Shadow Weaver remained undisturbed, looking through her papers.

“I thought she had told you that. Didn’t you go to the movies together yesterday?”

“You’re lying.”

“I told her to tell you yesterday before it was too late,” Shadow Weaver sighed, eyes still down. “I guess she didn’t listen to me.”

Catra ran toward Shadow Weaver’s desk, her hand slapping on it.

“You’re LYING,” her voice quivered as she screamed.

Shadow Weaver looked up at her.

Her face was covered behind a mask, always was. Some people said it was completely burned when she had gotten involved in a car accident about a decade before. Some people said it was more about style, and that she was actually beautiful behind that.

But Catra knew better. She had seen Shadow Weaver’s true face before, and she knew it looked more like a punishment for everything the witch had done in her life.

“You know,” Shadow Weaver got up from her chair. “I don’t need to pretend I like you when Adora is not here.”

Catra sniffed.

“Then don’t.”

She went around the desk, standing right in front of Catra. She smelled like burned cigarettes.

“And you don’t need to pretend you’re a good person either.”

Catra didn’t dare to look away.

“I won’t.”

They both stood there for a few seconds. Catra was stubborn and didn’t want to show any signs that she was scared.

Shadow Weaver didn’t care enough to be a part of her silly games. She turned her back to Catra, walking slowly.

“But I guess we both we’ll have to work together, for now.” She sat on the table, analyzing Catra’s reactions. “Hawk Moth needs your help.”

Catra tried not to look too surprised.

“What would he need me for? How does he even know who I am?”

“He’s seen you. He likes giving a chance to kids who have nothing to lose. He was more impressed with Adora, of course, but he’s seen you. And you’ve been trained for this.”

Shadow Weaver reached for a small box behind her, stylized with red relief.

“You’ll use this ring to get him what he wants.”

She opened it with her left hand. Inside, there was a silver ring, which would seem completely ordinary to anyone else — but not to Catra. No, not to her: she knew about the legends, and she knew there was some truth to them.

She cocked her head slightly in its direction, trying to pretend she wasn’t interested.

“And what is it that he wants?”

Shadow Weaver closed the box.

“A couple of earrings.”

Catra crossed her arms.

“I don’t follow. Why can’t he just use his brainwashed soldiers like always?”

Shadow Weaver rolled her eyes, the only part that wasn’t hidden by that hideous mask.

“Listen, your beloved Adora has left you, and there’s evidence that the old heroes are coming back. They better stay out of our way, and Hawk Moth for some stupid reason thinks you’re prepared to deal with that.”

She touched Catra’s chin with one long nail.

“Do you want to disappoint him?”

Catra shook her head.

“So, are you doing it or not?”

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

Catra grasped Shadow Weaver wrist so quickly and firmly that she got a scare.

“Are you lying to me about Adora?”

_ It’s so frustrating that I can’t see her fucking face_, Catra thought to herself.

Shadow Weaver only blinked.

“She’s not here, is she? Do you think I'd be offering you this if she was?”

Catra looked from one of Shadow Weaver’s eyes to the other, trying to read something, _ anything _inside them, but she knew it was useless.

And she was right. Adora wasn’t there, and there was a voice inside her head telling her she wouldn’t come back.

"She's gone, girl," Shadow Weaver echoed her thoughts.

Catra let go of the wrist.

“Ok.” She looked away, sitting back on the chair right in front of the desk. “I will do it.”

"Good."

Shadow Weaver raised her hand, holding the open box on its middle.

“Wear it. When you’re ready, just say ‘claws out’ and you’ll become Chat Noire.”

Catra nodded and took the box. It was prettier up close, but still looked way too ordinary.

“Anything I gotta do now?”

Shadow Weaver shrugged.

“Just ignore the annoying creature that comes with the ring… And wait for Ladybug to appear.”

Catra nodded again and licked her lips.

Adora was gone. She was definitely gone. It should hurt. It should make her feel abandoned.

But there was also something… liberating about it. She had never had an honest conversation with Shadow Weaver before, but there they were, revealing their secrets and getting rid of any pretenses.

If Hawk Moth wanted her help, he’d get it. She’d show him everything she was capable of. She’d make Adora regret leaving her behind.

She was so, so ready.

“Ok, then,” she put the ring on her ring finger, the coolness of it feeling good as she clenched her fist. There was no time to waste. “Claws out.”

* * *

“Hey, milady.”

It had been two months since they both had gotten their miraculouses and made their first appearances. It had been a terrible fight, one that almost made Adora feel unworthy of being Ladybug and caused Catra to get a serious reprimand from Hawk Moth.

Now, however, they were way more experienced. Giving up was not an option. So every fight, Chat would get close to getting Ladybug’s earrings, without success, and Ladybug would fight back. 

“This isn't yours,” she’d say, trying to unclench Chat’s fist so she could get to the ring. “Give it back.”

Chat would cackle and then try to scratch her face with her claws.

“This isn’t mine, princess? How come I’m wearing it then?”

If Ladybug wanted to win and help Etheria before it collapsed on itself, she needed Chat’s ring back— and Chat simply couldn’t give her that.

Hawk Moth had other plans. He wanted to destroy Etheria, return it to the dimension it was before, prove to everyone he was a worthy leader and had always been. He needed the earrings.

If Catra wanted to please him, Chat Noire was her only option.

“You don’t know what Hawk Moth wants to do with this, do you?” Ladybug said as she defeated Chat once again, leaving her tied to a tree.

Her earrings beeped. Chat laughed.

“You better go if you don’t want me to find out who you really are, bug.”

Ladybug pressed her lips, but she immediately started to run backwards from Chat.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Chat. You will get seriously hurt.”

Chat smirked.

“Do you care about me, princess? That’s embarrassing.”

It was supposed to be a joke. Of course it was: they were enemies, had been since the first day they met, and nothing was going to change that.

But Ladybug looked down and then up again, and her eyes were too sincere when she said the next words.

“For some strange reason, I do. I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Chat raised her eyebrows. _ What did you say? _

She didn’t have time to ask, though. Soon enough, Ladybug had disappeared, hiding before her transformation ran out… and leaving Catra alone and confused.

_ She cares… about me? _

But then she immediately shook her head to her stupid thoughts, freeing her hand and using her cataclysm on the rope. 

Ladybug was definitely a worthy opponent, and definitely her enemy. There was no way she meant what she said. Catra was not going to fall for that. Hawk Moth was the only one who could help her.

Princesses were liars, very good at manipulating their prey, and she wasn’t going to let them win her over. She had learned not to trust when blond girls told her they cared about her.

* * *

Adora wanted to say she hadn’t been back to the orphanage since she left. Of course, that was a lie. She had come back many times.

The first time she tried to visit Catra, it was right after she discovered the truth: that everything they knew about their supreme leader Hawk Moth was a lie, that he was trying to open a portal back to their original world that could destroy everything and everyone, that Adora had been chosen to be Ladybug for the rest of her life, defending the kingdoms against the army of the horde, which she’d be a part of if Queen Angella had not found her hidden in that orphanage.

Too many years of brainwashing left her bewildered. She trusted all those people and their stories for some reason, but she barely knew them. She needed someone that had been there from day one.

She needed Catra.

So she went to visit her after only three days in Bright Moon, going through the Whispering Woods, risking her life to see her friend… And it ended up being a disaster. The horde had spotted her as Ladybug and she’d been forced to fight them, almost getting captured by Chat Noire, her newest enemy. Every single time she tried again after that, against Glimmer’s and Bow’s wishes, Chat had stopped her, asking her why she’d be silly enough to come to the Fright Zone where everyone hated her.

“Silly bug,” Chat would say, “you should not play with me like that.”

Only on her fifteenth try, when she was finally starting to understand how to better avoid the horde, she got close enough.

She got, in fact, to the orphanage’s gates. She could see her room, right next to Catra’s, where she’d lived most of her life.

But it wasn’t Catra who was waiting for her.

“I knew you’d come back to us,” Shadow Weaver said, opening the door to the orphanage as soon as Adora got there, disguised as Ladybug.

“You don’t know who I am.”

“Of course I do, my dear. You’re Adora.” She got one step closer, raising her fingers so they could touch Adora’s cheek, too close to the earrings. “And you brought the Ladybug Miraculous back to us.”

Adora felt used. Of course Shadow Weaver expected her to be another compliant puppy: that was what she’d been raised for. Now that she could see above the manipulation, the witch disgusted her.

“I’m not doing that, ever,” she said, moving her head to the side so Shadow Weaver’s fingers weren’t touching it anymore. “I’m here to see Catra.”

That caught her by surprise, but she immediately laughed it off.

“Catra? She doesn’t want to see you.”

It was late in the night, so even Shadow Weaver’s eyes were hidden from her in that mask.

“Where is she?” Adora asked, feeling fear rising in her throat. Catra could be difficult to deal with, that was right, especially considering how Adora had suddenly disappeared. But she wouldn’t ever _hate _ Adora, would she?

“She knows you left her, and she can’t forgive you for that.”

Adora took a step back. That was exactly what she feared, in some ways.

“I didn’t _leave _ her.”

Shadow Weaver shook her head.

“It’s been two months, Adora.”

“I was busy. Chat wouldn't let me get here. I had to learn about who I really am and how to control my powers.”

“You never even called her.”

“I didn’t know if it was safe. I _tried_. I didn’t want to get her in trouble.”

“And then you _left _ her.”

Adora’s lips were quivering. She wanted to deny that, but she couldn’t. Even if her intentions were good, even if she'd tried to come back many times, she had broken her promise.

“Face it, Adora. You left her. And she won’t forgive you for that,” Shadow Weaver cocked her head, pointing to the orphanage. “She’s ours now, has always been.”

That was not how it was supposed to be. Catra was supposed to listen to Adora and escape with her. They were supposed to run away together to Bright Moon, where Glimmer and Bow were waiting for her.

But she simply nodded. If Shadow Weaver was there, that meant other people in the horde knew Ladybug was there too. _ Chat _knew Ladybug was there too.

She didn’t have much time.

“Tell her I came, then. Tell her I haven’t forgotten about her.”

Shadow Weaver didn’t move.

“Of course,” she said as she nodded back.

The sirens started wailing. Ladybug left.

* * *

Every night after that in Bright Moon, Adora felt guilty for leaving Catra, and it seemed harder to come back again and again.

How could she come back after everything she found out? How could she come back to Shadow Weaver, who had tried to manipulate her into becoming another puppet for the government, destroying any chance she ever had to be adopted by nice parents who could give her love?

And how could she be sure Catra would trust her when she seemed so eager to please Shadow Weaver?

It was a dark night, and Glimmer and Bow were there with her. She lay on her bed, waiting for a sign, any sign that would indicate what she should do next.

“I’m completely lost,” she said, more to herself than to her friends. “I lost my oldest friend.”

Glimmer looked at Bow, but he only shrugged his shoulders. They had no idea how to deal with that.

“Focus on defeating Chat,” Glimmer said after a few seconds, touching Adora’s shoulder gently, “and then you can bring your friend back.”

Adora had her face hidden in a pillow, thankfully, because a long sigh of impotence escaped from her lips. Focus on defeating Chat wasn't an easy task either.

After every fight, both Ladybug and Chat would go back with scars that were too shallow to be considered any real attack. They weren’t taking it super easy, not at all, but they were definitely not trying to cross a line there. They were on different sides of that fight, but both could work together if they were asked to. It was almost as if they were more loyal to their private fight than to anyone else.

“You could have done it. You could have gotten the ring...” Light Hope would say, ignoring how Ladybug would have to hurt Chat for that.

“You’ve disappointed me yet again,” Hawk Moth would say, despising Catra for holding herself when she could kill Ladybug with her cataclysm.

Adora looked up, admitting what Glimmer and Bow already knew.

“I don’t think I can do that either.”

She wondered why she was going so easy on her enemy, afraid of hurting her. And she didn’t know, but Catra wondered the same, too.

* * *

“You LIED to us, you fucking witch!”

When Catra stormed into Shadow Weaver’s office, the latter was calmly drinking coffee, wondering if she could use what Ladybug had said in any way that mattered to her. It was time to tell Catra the truth.

Catra was holding hundreds of sheets of paper. Her eyes were red and swollen.

“You lied to me and Adora. I found all the documents, all the people that tried to adopt us when we were kids. You stopped them. You _ wanted _us to stay here.”

Shadow Weaver nodded.

She could be nice. She could try to explain to Catra that unfortunately Adora had been chosen by the other side, that both girls were just unlucky pawns in the middle of that conflict.

But she could easily be cruel too. She could pit them against each other. And that would definitely work better if she wanted to motivate Catra.

“Not _both _of you,” she said, eyes not leaving the spoon on her coffee.

Catra gulped.

“What do you mean?”

Shadow Weaver took a sip of her drink.

“I didn’t _want _both of you to stay. But I had to keep one if I wanted the other.”

The room felt smaller somehow as Catra walked to the chair and sat down, hands going through her hair as she did. 

Despair. That was exactly what Shadow Weaver wanted to see.

“Of course," Catra said, as she put locks of her hair behind her ears. "You only wanted Adora.”

Anger started to rise inside her chest, filling her stomach with acid, making her throat tighter. It was hard to breathe.

“Fucking, fucking Adora,” she was looking at the ground, shaking her head and pulling her own hair, making it a mess. “Always stopping me from getting what I want, always using me.”

Her thoughts were nothing but chaos. She couldn’t understand why Adora had left, much less how she felt about it. Things were so much simpler back then: just the two of them against the world, knowing the Fright Zone was an alienated shithole, but one where they could thrive together.

She looked up to where Shadow Weaver didn’t express any surprise or remorse. She hated Adora for leaving her, but she hated Shadow Weaver too. It didn’t matter that they were working together: Shadow Weaver seemed to have fun just looking at Catra’s struggles.

If she didn’t have that mask on, in fact, Catra was sure she’d see a smile on that face. 

“Why?” Catra‘s voice was quivering, maybe because of the tears, maybe because of her uncontrollable anger. “Why would you do this to me? I did everything you asked. I was a dedicated student, a talented athlete, and now a good soldier.”

She bit her lip. Shadow Weaver still didn’t say a word. Fighting the witch was useless, and she should have learned that by then.

So she thought of all the conflict around her that she could actually tackle. Adora, of course, was an issue, destroying any emotional balance she was trying to achieve—but Shadow Weaver didn’t seem eager to help her deal with their complicated relationship.

Ladybug, however, who she didn’t seem to be able to fight, was a bigger problem, a closer one in fact. Catra decided to focus on that.

“And now this fucking… Ladybug.” Hearing that, Shadow Weaver finally moved. She cocked her head to the side, and Catra continued, satisfied that something had finally captured her attention. “How am I supposed to fight her when I don’t know what you want from her? How am I supposed to…”

She looked down again, tears escaping from her eyes. She hadn’t noticed she was crying until then.

“Fuck,” she sniffed.

There was silence for a minute, then two, then five as Catra tried to hold back her tears. Shadow Weaver patiently waited again, even offering her some tissues.

Maybe Catra had only imagined the mention of Ladybug had captured her attention.

“Aren’t you gonna say anything?” Catra started again, as she felt more stable. “Am I joke?”

When Shadow Weaver didn’t reply, she stood up and reached for the fabric around her neck, bringing their faces closer.

“Say something! Tell me why I should go after Ladybug or–“

Shadow Weaver’s voice when she spoke next, interrupting Catra, was barely a whisper. She knew she didn't need to be loud as she announced the truth.

That was it.

That was the perfect time.

“She’s Adora.”

Catra grimaced.

“What did you say?”

She thought she’d heard it wrong. She _must _have.

But Shadow Weaver was way clearer next time.

“Ladybug is Adora.”

“You’re lying,” she let go of Shadow Weaver’s dress, sitting back on her chair.

“I was lying when I told you she’d been adopted. She didn’t. She ran away,” Shadow Weaver stood up, then kneeled by Catra’s chair. “We wanted her to get the Ladybug Miraculous and bring it back to us, but she didn’t. She’s loyal to them now.”

That made sense, too much sense, but it couldn’t be true. Something on her chest hurt even more, and she felt like she was about to throw up.

Catra held herself around her stomach, feeling acid inside her throat. 

“Why are you only telling me now?”

“I was trying to protect you, Catra.”

She could laugh if her lungs didn’t hurt so bad. Was that what a panic attack felt like? She didn’t know.

She looked straight into Shadow Weaver’s eyes.

“Don’t fucking lie to me. Don’t fucking lie to me or I’ll take this ring with me and you’ll never see the end of it.”

Shadow Weaver, who had been kneeling until then, finally stood up, adjusting her red dress and she did so.

“Very well. We thought that would hold you back, and we didn’t want a weak Chat Noire.”

Catra fumed, barely standing up.

“Don’t call me weak.”

“We all know you’ve always been weaker than Adora.”

“Not anymore.”

They evaluated each other. Catra was pressing her lips together, closing and opening her fists on her sides. She took one step closer.

“I’ve been holding back, yes, but because Ladybug has been too nice to me.” She licked her lips and then laughed, every part of it ringing with cruelty. Her next words were more like a promise to herself than to Shadow Weaver. “_Adora _is weak. She can’t hurt me. I’ll make her stop.”

The room was so silent for a few seconds that she almost forgot Shadow Weaver wasn’t a statue.

“Very well,” she said, walking back to her chair. “We’ll let you keep the ring.”

Catra furrowed her brows.

“What?”

“As long as you bring the earrings back, I’ll forgive your insolence and the fact you went through my archives.”

There was not a single emotion in Shadow Weaver’s voice besides, perhaps, annoyance.

“You destroyed my life–“

“Yes, because of Adora, and now I’m giving you a chance to get back at her. You should thank me for that.”

Catra swallowed. That was easier to accept. There was not a chance Shadow Weaver would apologize for ruining her childhood, and she was only following Hawk Moth’s orders anyway.

As long as she focused on what _ Adora _had done to her, she’d get the revenge she wanted. Especially now that she knew one of her biggest secrets.

“You’re right.”

“I know.”

“I should go after Ladybug. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Shadow Weaver said, dismissing her.

Catra walked quietly through the empty corridors, avoiding everyone, trying to keep her composure. When she got to the bathroom, however, she immediately kneeled down by the nearest toilet, releasing everything she’d eaten.

It didn’t last long and it was disgusting, yet it made her feel like she was cleansing herself. She didn’t _actually _think she should be thankful to Shadow Weaver for all the manipulation and lies, but Shadow Weaver was right about one thing: she did offer a solution to Catra’s problems.

Ladybug would be easier to hurt if she truly was Adora. All she had to do was wait.

_ I’m gonna come for you, Adora_, she thought to herself as she passed the back of her hand through her lips. _ And you better be ready for it. _

* * *

Chat had never been aggressive.

Wild, yes, but never aggressive. Her movements were controlled, hurting just enough so they’d slow Ladybug down, her claws never completely out unless she was trying to destroy any obstacles imposed by Ladybug.

That night, however, she didn’t care for courtesy.

Ladybug’s suit had been ripped apart in many different places, and she could only hope her miraculous powers would fix everything after she was done fighting.

“You did exactly what they wanted you to do. Exactly,” Chat said, as she ran after Ladybug. “You’re so fucking stupid.”

Ladybug was completely aware that her earrings had already beeped once. If Chat kept going after her, they’d soon lose their magic.

“Why are you acting like this? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

So she kept running, using her yo-yo to fly above the city, trying to get a glimpse of Bow and Glimmer, who should be hidden somewhere below her, and making Chat grow angrier and angrier at that useless pursuit.

“Oh, but you do know,” Chat growled, dangerously close to Ladybug’s ear.

Distracted by those words and what they could mean, Ladybug ended up taking the wrong turn and soon she was trapped with three big walls around her. Of course, she could always just use the yo-yo to bring her above the walls and escape from there. But she was tired of running, so she simply turned around.

“Ok. I’m tired. What do you want–”

Before she could finish the sentence, she heard Chat scream “cataclysm.”

There was no time to move, no time to use her yo-yo or reach for anything that helped her escape. She didn’t even think before her hand held Chat’s wrist, stopping the destructive hand from touching her face.

She never thought Ladybug’s improved reflexes would come that close to saving her life.

“Chat!” she screamed, both hands around each of the other’s wrists. “What are you doing?”

Chat gave her a nasty smile. She couldn’t get her hand closer to Ladybug’s face that way, so she tried to move her feet, make Ladybug lose balance.

“I’m finally doing what I should have done a long time ago.”

They were almost... dancing. Ladybug held Chat’s hands away from her while Chat tried to kick her legs, her hair going even wilder with the effort.

She had to face Chat, and that wouldn’t happen as long as Chat’s legs were moving.

“You could have killed me,” she said. She forced Chat to use the cataclysm on a trash can, and soon she only had her right hand holding Chat’s wrists, much less destructive than they were a few seconds before. Her left hand was on the fabric right below Chat’s neck, holding her up against the wall. “That could have destroyed the earrings too.”

Chat spat on the ground. Ladybug, slightly taller than her, was holding her above it, and now her legs couldn’t kick or reach anything.

“I don’t fucking care.”

There was something different in Chat’s eyes behind that mask, Ladybug noticed. A sense of abandonment. Some anger that was directed at Ladybug and Ladybug only, and not at the world like it used to be. She could see Bow and Glimmer now, above her, waiting for a sign that she wanted their help.

She shook her head slightly at them, knowing they’d understand what she meant.

Chat was her problem, one she had to deal with it completely alone. That was part of being Ladybug.

“Chat,” she whispered, trying not to scare her, “what have they done to you?”

Her earrings were beeping once again. She noticed Chat’s miraculous was beeping too, a few seconds further from losing its magic and transforming back than Ladybug’s.

“Leave me the fuck alone,” Chat said, avoiding her eyes. “Don’t act like you care about me.”

“You know I do.”

Chat sneered at that.

“You don’t believe me?” Ladybug asked, almost stepping back at the repulse in Chat’s face.

“You don’t care about anything but you.”

“How can you say that?”

“I’m just telling the truth.”

“You don’t even know me.”

Both heard their miraculouses as they beeped once again. Both ignored them, too caught up in the tension between their bodies.

“Oh,” Chat said, irony dripping from her voice, “but I do.”

She leaned forward, so that her nose was almost touching Ladybug’s. She was looking at her from above, which made it sound like a threat, even though it was Ladybug who had the upper hand there.

“You’re a little orphan girl who never got to know your parents. Unloved, incapable of loving, hurting everyone who could ever love you.”

An alarm went off somewhere. Ladybug could hear Glimmer and Bow whispering above her, telling her to hurry, but she didn’t care.

“How do you know that?”

“But nothing was ever enough for you, right?” Chat’s voice was growing with spite, her eyes going everywhere. “No, you needed more. You needed to turn everything into a competition, getting more than the others, more attention, more praise, more recognition, more fun... You were not satisfied unless you had it all.”

“That’s not true-”

“And then,” she interrupted, “your first friend...”

She finally looked back at Ladybug. She looked pitiful, or maybe just angry. Maybe both were the same thing.

“You _only _friend... you abandoned her.”

Ladybug couldn’t understand.

Perhaps she did. Perhaps she just tried to ignore it, hold it on the back of her mind just like she had done with all her other memories from when she was a kid, because it was easier.

Because she had always known that there was something too natural about the way she knew all of Chat’s movements, evasive and wild, just like the girl she had trained with since she was a girl. She had always known that there was a big possibility they both had been used by Shadow Weaver, trained to carry the miraculouses.

She had always known that the face behind that mask could very well be that of Catra’s. She just hoped it wasn’t.

“I didn’t abandon her,” she lied to herself.

Chat laughed. She then released one of her wrists, using that hand to hold Ladybug close to her, her fingers on both sides of Ladybug's chin, pressing her cheeks.

“You did. You abandoned me. You left me behind knowing something better was waiting for you. So hear me out: as long as you’re alive, you’re my enemy. I will use my cataclysm on anyone, everything you’ve ever loved, as long as that means you’re as unhappy as I am.”

She could feel Ladybug grasp slackening. Both were about to transform back, both had already used their special attacks, and both only had one minute left.

“Even if it hurts me, _ Adora_.”

“Ladybug,” Bow finally screamed. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to go! The horde is coming!”

They let go of each other, running to completely opposite directions.

Ladybug didn’t have time to react, or think, or give her any responses. Soon she was above the wall, looking down at Chat as her transformation ran out. There was no point in hiding anymore. In fact, it would be better if she faced the truth as her true self.

Soon, there was a flash, and she was Adora again. She could only hope Chat would do the same.

Glimmer tried to push her away from the edge.

“Come on, Adora, what the fuck are you doing? She’s dangerous. That’s so stupid.”

“She already knows who I am,” Adora said, impassive. “And I should have known too.”

As if to prove her right, a flash of green light appeared in just two seconds as Chat transformed back into her civilian form, black leather suit giving place to an orange tank top and violet leggings.

And there she was: Adora’s worst fear, one she didn’t know she had so blatant up until that moment. Her heterochromatic eyes were now clear without any masks to disguise their eccentricity, her dark hair was no longer in a bun.

Glimmer gasped.

“Is that...”

“Yes.”

Catra smiled at Adora. It wasn’t sincere, nor warm, and unlike any smile she had ever shown her friend. They faced each other for what seemed to be minutes but actually couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Their eyes were cold.

“That’s Catra,” Adora whispered.

Reading her lips, Catra smiled even wider and turned on her heels.

Adora only watched. Being right never felt more wrong.

“Next time I see you, _Ladybug_,” she screamed, not even turning back to see Adora’s reaction, “you better be fucking ready.”

The blonde didn’t answer. Catra was already running back to the center of the city, trying to inform the horde of Ladybug’s location.

Hawk Moth would be so, so proud of her.

* * *

Adora walked away too, asking Glimmer to teleport them back to Bright Moon. Glimmer and Bow didn’t say anything, and how could they? They had heard about Catra many times before and had even tried to assure Adora that her friend was fine.

None of them were prepared for that.

When they were finally back to their home, Adora didn’t wait for a second before running to her room.

“Is everything alright?” she heard Queen Angella ask behind her.

“She just needs... time,” Bow answered.

But time was everything she didn’t need, everything she never had. There was no time when she chose to leave her old life, no time to let Catra know that everything was fine. There had been no time to learn the truth when they were kids, and there was no time now that they were adults with a tortuous relationship.

Her head hurt, but her heart was mutilated.

_ A knife on my back would hurt less_, she thought to herself.

A broken promise had finally come back to haunt her. And she never thought she’d be so sad to see her old friend.

**Author's Note:**

> well, that was it. thank you lara tiffany marcela and gabri for reading this and telling me it was at least Ok!! kdlsfjslkdf god im a mess.......
> 
> i really hope anyone who got to the end of it loved it!! <3  
please comment/give it kudos/share it/recommend it to friends. i appreciate it all :)


End file.
